3rd POV – Descent into the World's Wound
The ancient vault deep within Gathis Primus had been a secret long buried under tectonic layers and ork scrap-forges. It was neither xenos nor wholly human, and the very Warp bled from its seams. The Adeptus Mechanicus had once sealed it, generations ago. Now, its rusted seals screamed open.
The Ember Vow hovered silently above the breach.
Twelve drop-pods fell.
Within them: Shawn Newman, Vulkar, Tahak, Basur, and the five newly aligned Astartes—Serkan, Vorn, Solan, Gaius, and Hekor. They were the tip of the spear.
The descent took them far below the crust, where heat and gravity twisted into unnatural degrees. Even their enhanced forms sweated. The air shimmered. Words echoed before they were spoken.
Magos Eristan, monitoring from orbit, confirmed the signature. "Confirmed. Warp-core anomaly locked beneath the surface. Imprisoned entity: designation incomplete. Warp density unstable. Proceed with absolute caution."
Valen, voice calm but thin, added: "This vault is not just holding something. It is feeding it."
Shawn POV – Arrival at the Vault
We landed on scorched obsidian, the vault like a cathedral carved from nightmare. Glyphs lined the walls, pre-Imperial. The stench of raw sin rolled across the stone.
I felt it immediately—a mind. Caged. Ancient. Hungry.
"It's waiting," Vulkar said beside me.
"Then let's not keep it."
We stepped forward, weapons drawn. My twin gauntlet-blades materialized, slick with Haki. Around me, my brothers ignited their own power.
Vulkar's hammer glowed faintly. Basur cracked his knuckles, his entire form already blackened with Haki. Tahak's eyes shimmered as his Observation flared.
The newer Astartes were quiet, but their eyes watched everything.
3rd POV – The Vault Breaks
The gate burst.
It didn't creak or explode. It simply ceased to exist, erased by presence alone.
From within came a being wrapped in screams and silk: Nal'vheera the Silken Maw, a Greater Daemon of Slaanesh, imprisoned for millennia. Her form shimmered, dozens of arms shifting into blades, tongues of fire, and tempting illusions. She was beauty, horror, and despair in one.
"Children of Will... how rare."
Her voice hit their minds like a caress wrapped in razors.
Valen screamed aboard the Ember Vow. Tech-priests seized. The mortals in orbit nearly died from the psychic backlash.
But Shawn stood.
His Haki surged, the gauntlet-blades solidifying.
"No." His voice cut through her illusions. "We are not here to fall."
Nal'vheera shifted.
Her illusions came first. Visions of paradise, lost kin, dead lovers, failed dreams. Gaius faltered. Vorn dropped to a knee. Serkan shook violently.
But Vulkar, Tahak, and Basur stood unmoved.
Vulkar stepped forward and struck the illusion with Haki. The ground trembled.
"Your lies do not reach us. Our Will is flame."
3rd POV – The Fight Begins
The daemon roared, her illusions burning away. She turned to violence.
Bladed arms lashed out. Hekor took a glancing blow and nearly lost an arm. Gaius answered with a thunderous strike, and Solan held the flank with precise fire.
But it was the original four who stepped into her storm.
Basur tanked a dozen strikes, fists burning with Armament, his roars shaking the vault.
Tahak moved like wind, weaving between attacks, marking her weaknesses with every glance.
Vulkar struck with rhythm, using bursts of Observation to time her shifts. His hammer became an extension of his soul.
Shawn moved last. He closed his eyes and let the world slow. Liquid Haki poured across his form like silver-black armor. His gauntlet-blades extended, humming.
They attacked as one.
Blades clashed. Hammer met claw. Haki met Warp.
Each strike of Shawn's blades sheared away daemonflesh that wouldn't regenerate.
Nal'vheera shrieked. "What are you?!"
"Will incarnate," Shawn whispered. "We are the Flame You Cannot Seduce."
3rd POV – The Turn
Vorn regained his feet, slamming his crozius into the floor. "My faith is my sword!" Haki rippled around his weapon.
Serkan moved silently, his form partially cloaked in Armament.
Solan shouted orders, guiding Basur into a flanking route.
Hekor, even bleeding, redirected his pain into his strikes.
And Gaius, eyes burning with fury, charged with Tahak at his side. "Let's carve her bones from this rock."
The kill-team fought not like strangers, but like a singular organism. Their movements were clean, deadly, driven.
Shawn kept applying pressure, slashing faster. His Haki had begun cutting not just flesh, but presence. Every time he struck, Nal'vheera's aura shrank.
And then Vulkar delivered the finishing blow.
He leapt, hammer in both hands, and poured his very essence into it. His Will ignited. His strike crushed her chest, cracking her core sigil.
The daemon's form shattered like porcelain.
3rd POV – The Banishment
She screamed as the Warp dragged her back, spiraling and twisting.
Shawn raised a hand, liquid Haki forming a spear, and drove it into her center.
The vault trembled.
"By flame, by will, by soul... BE GONE."
And she was.
Aftermath – Silence and Revelation
The vault, once pulsing with corruption, fell into silence.
The Astartes gathered, breathing heavily. Even the new ones stared in disbelief.
Solan approached Shawn. "You… did more than slay her. You unmade her."
"Haki," Shawn said simply.
Serkan added, "You four fought like nothing I've ever seen."
Valen, recovering via psy-link, whispered aboard the Ember Vow. "They didn't resist the Warp. They rewrote it."
Eristan, quietly recording data, muttered, "This power is not in the Codex."
The Salamanders looked at one another. Basur was bleeding. Tahak's armor was cracked. Vulkar's gauntlets were scorched.
But they stood tall.
They had faced a Greater Daemon and survived.
Shawn turned to the others.
"This was a test. The galaxy has more. Are you ready to keep going?"
Every Astartes answered at once.
"Yes, Commander."